The Canadian Press
QUEBEC CITY—The first NHL game at the new Videotron Centre was hardly a classic.
But that was to be expected when the Pittsburgh Penguins showed up to face the Montreal Canadiens in a pre-season game without big guns Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Phil Kessel.
But even with a roster of mostly veterans, the Canadiens had to grind out a 4-1 victory last night before a sell-out crowd of 18,259 who seemed split between those cheering for Montreal and the fans who haven’t forgotten the defunct Quebec Nordiques.
Quebec City is pushing hard to bring back the defunct Nordiques, who were Montreal’s hottest rivals from 1979-95.
“It was a pre-season game and the level of emotion of the players wasn’t at its peak,” Canadiens’ coach Michel Therrien said of the game.
“But we saw some good things.
“We played a good game overall,” he noted. “We were very good in the third period.”
Alexander Semin scored his first goal of the pre-season while Lars Eller, Brian Finn, and Dale Weise (empty-netter) also scored for Montreal.
Carey Price played the entire game in goal and made 22 saves.
Beau Bennett scored for Pittsburgh while Marc-Andre Fleury made 24 saves.
Most players enjoyed the experience and said they liked the new rink, although Pittsburgh defenceman Kris Letang said there still is work to do.
“The ice wasn’t NHL quality,” he noted. “It was hard. The puck was bouncing a lot.
“And with the [black] logos at centre ice, you lost sight of the puck.”
Whatever the quality of play, it allowed Montreal’s brass to get a better handle on what roster decisions need to be made before the regular season begins Oct. 7.
After the game, forward Nikita Scherbak was assigned to St. John’s of the AHL, leaving 30 players in camp.
